Abridge Golf & Country Club hits the mark with national golf award accreditation for safeguarding
Abridge golf club in county Essex, which is backing the drive to grow the game, has achieved the SafeGolf club accreditation won a national award from England Golf.
Abridge Golf & Country Club a private members club, with a championship former Open qualifier 18 hole course has just received the SafeGolf, demonstrating the clubs commitment to safeguarding children and young people, as well as adults in risk in the sport of golf. .
Lewis Jacobs past captain and welfare officer who led the club’s push to SafeGolf, said: “Abridge is a great club, it’s very friendly, welcoming and forward-thinking. This award helps us to spread that message and to tell people that children are safe and secure here and that we understand about beginner golfers.”
The award was presented to Abridge Golf Club by Helen Tartalin, England Golf’s South East Club Support Officer county Development Officer. “I’m delighted that Club Name Abridge Golf Club has achieved SafeGolf and that its efforts to grow the game can be nationally recognised.”
The SafeGolf is a partnership of UK golf bodies committed to promoting a safe and positive environment for all those participating, working and volunteering in the sport of golf.
The SafeGolf partnership consists of members from the golfing bodies across Great Britain & Ireland and has been established to help golf respond to the issue of child protection in sport. Its mission is to safeguard the welfare of children and young people, as well as adults at risk, in the sport of golf.
SafeGolf is firstly, a website – www.safegolf.org – through which anyone with a concern about the welfare of a player, or the behaviour or practice of a coach, volunteer, organiser, parent or a player, can contact the lead safeguarding officer at their national governing body.
Secondly, it is the safeguarding standard England Golf will promote to all their affiliated clubs to ensure all clubs provide a safe and positive experience to children and young people whilst playing golf. The PGA are also using the standards to apply to all their PGA professional Coaches.
Find an accredited coach – www.safegolf.org All Abridge Golf Club coaches are fully accredited.
Well I hope this update finds you all safe and well? Lockdown has been tough and its been quite tough trying to get jobs done in relentless rain and the odd week of snow! You only have to had walked around where you live and look at the excessive water on the fields until a couple of weeks ago to see how bad this Winter has been. 3 weeks ago we were covered in snow ! after yet another record breaking wet winter! The positive is that the last 2 weeks we have been dry and warmer and things are slowly drying out.
4th and 5th three weeks agoThe flooded fields below the 13th green before the snow arrived
Those that like statistics, here are the rainfall details when comparing Winters the last 3 years.
October 2018 – 1st Mar 2019 226 mm October 2019 – 1st Mar 2020 503 mm October 2020 – 1at mar 2021 644 mm
I want to manage expectations of your return, we have had an atrocious Winter and please remember we ‘Locked down’ last year on the 29th March 2020 and ‘unlocked’ the 16th May 2020. This time we are ‘unlocking’ the 29th March 2021, we cannot rush surfaces, we are doing our best so please remember it’s only March. My staff and myself are fully committed to producing a great Golf Course as soon as conditions allow but please be patient.
As you all know we are approximately a year ahead of our Drainage installation schedule. On solid clay, as we are, very little drainage systems would cope with the persistent rainfall, but the drains we have installed to date are working and doing a noticeable job. As stated when we decided to install drainage we were never going to be able make Abridge dry as the summer, but, what we aim to achieve are quicker draining surfaces and more playable, but this will take time and we are certainly doing and trying our best! The 1st 5 holes have noticeably drained quicker these last couple of weeks.
On a positive note the Greenstaff have been trying to do as much as possible since December and are working hard to get things ready for your welcome return. Below are some of the jobs we hope ! to complete by the 29th March
New ditch at 2nd Hole to take water away from the 1st Hole. Cleared the existing ditch on the right hand side of the 2nd Hole. The sleeper wall at the 4th tee has been replaced and rebuilt where it was collapsing. Completion of the New Driving Range Tee.
Driving Range tee
A new fence at the back of the 4th Green. Extensive tree work between 6th and 7th fairways including ditch clearing. New winter mats at 7th and 8th Holes. Tree thinning at the 9th Green. Re-sealing of the leak in the 14th Pond All greens, tees and approaches verti-drained, seeded, top dressed and given a ‘starter’ fertiliser.
18th Green after a long awaited trim
Completion of the new patio area Installation of several new ditches to help with the drainage. Installation of Main and Primary drains on either the 16th or 18th Further secondary drainage on some of the front 9 holes. Repainting and cleaning of all Course furniture Turfing some of the bunkers that we had started filling in
Work on the 4th TEE
So hopefully you can see we are busy! and also as trying to get surfaces cut where possible as the course continues to dry. Obviously some of the above jobs are weather dependant but at least we have plans!
Click on the video below to see a summary of some of the work and conditions since December. Apologies its a bit disjointed but I put it together in limited time !
A few of the things that have happened the last few months.
Moving forward into this year we are geared up and budgeted for doing the following Drainage and Course improvement works as soon as conditions allow us . These jobs will carry on throughout this year to continue to improve the playability and overall condition of the Course.
Continuation of the Drainage works on holes 10,14,16 and 18 New ditches to enable Pipe drainage and general water run off to drain off the Golf Course. Installation of pipe drainage to Greens 1, 7 and 13. Completion of the Bunker reducing programme and rebuilding of the bunkers at the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 11th holes .
The above represents significant continuing investment in your Golf club. Consider how much has been done the last 4 years:- Full coverage High Tech Irrigation . Paths around all 18 holes allowing Buggy’s and Trolley’s all year round Drainage of the whole course over the next 3-5 years A fantastic new Clubhouse incorporating ‘The Lounge’ with new patio. Great new catering and social events, ( when allowed!) by Tina and Paddy A great new Proshop, Caddy store, Fitting Centre and New Driving Range Tee all handled by our great Pro Jack Winer and his staff. . It just shows with what’s been done to date and whats planned why its great being a member here at Abridge Golf Club
FINALLY ALL OF THE STAFF AND MYSELF WOULD LIKE TO SAY A MASSIVE THANK YOU FOR ALL THOSE MEMBERS THAT HAVE SUPPORTED THE CLUB AND STAFF THROUGHOUT THIS LAST 12 MONTHS WE ARE SO GLAD TO STILL ALL BE HERE AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN A FEW WEEKS
Enjoy your Golf , Enjoy your Club………..It’s yours remember!
Abridge golf and Country Club as an active member of England Golf fully supports the initiative of protecting Children and Adults at Risk. We have therefore, encompassed the recommendations and instituted and updated the following policies which can be downloaded.
They outline our safeguarding procedures and how we feel all members as well as children, should behave whilst on our premises.
As the Club Welfare Officer, please contact me as soon as possible with any safeguarding concerns.
Also attached is Club Welfare Officer Role Description which can be downloaded in word format from the link underneath as well as the SafeGolf certificate.
We are delighted to announce the return of our annual charity Golf day after postponing last year due to Covid 19. We hope you can join us to make it a fun filled and exciting day on Tuesday 27th June.
Charities need our help even more than ever so please help us make this year a bumper success.
This years nominated charity is The Kings George & Queen’s Hospital.
Please find below entry form for our eagerly anticipated annual event. We would urge you to return it as soon as possible as demand for places often exceed available spaces.
ENTRY FEE IS £75.00 PER PERSON This includes morning coffee and home-made biscuits on arrival.Halfway house, lunch, and prizes Please advise of any special dietary requirements.
We have a limited number of buggies available. These will be allocated on a first come basis.
Looking forward to seeing you at this worthwhile and enjoyable day.
Thanking you for your kind support in helping dreams come true
This Winter has been one of the longest, wettest and ‘trying’ ones for many a year. In fact February has just been announced as the wettest February’s on record! So it’s time to do something about it.
We are going to start installing a Comprehensive Drainage system into Fairways and Approaches to make the Course more playable in the wetter periods. This drainage will never stop some of the excessive flooding conditions we have had this Winter, BUT what it will do is to enable the surfaces to cope with the rainfall and drain the surfaces quicker. At the moment the water has nowhere to go and just sits on the surfaces as the clay subsoil underneath is saturated.
The plans and install methods
have been checked by a qualified Drainage Consultant.
The plan consists installing Main, Primary and Secondary Drainage. We have measured and surveyed all 18 holes and then prioritised where we feel is best to start, but this depends massively on ground and Weather conditions and maintenance of your Golf Course.
Perforated drainage pipe
Overall, we will be laying in
excess of 3,500M of Mains Drainage, in excess of 7,000M of
Primary Drainage and in excess of 80,000M of Secondary drainage over the
next 3-4 years!
MAIN
DRAINS
These will be installed in the appropriate places in the Rough just
along the edges of Fairways and Approaches.
Trenching
Another view of the Trencher at work
They will consist of a trench with 100mm perforated pipe covered with a
non-woven Geo textile Sock (this helps to stop the silting up of the pipe), the
trench will then be backfilled to the surface using 10mm washed pea shingle.
These will be visible for a while until the grass grows over the top of the
gravel. Inspection points along the Main drains will be installed for us to
service and keep the pipes clear.
How we will backfill the primary drainage trenches with Gravel
Backfilling trenches
with a 3 Ton Gravel Trailer
PRIMARY
(LATERAL) DRAINS
These will be installed in the appropriate places. They are spaced
between 5M and 10M apart and connect directly into the Main drains
Primary drains consist of a trench with 80mm perforated pipe, backfilled
with 10mm washed pea shingle up to 75mm below the surface. The remaining 75mm
will be filled with an 80/20 sand/soil mix. This stops gravel coming to the
surface which can ruin mower blades and also help to limit ‘Tiger striping’
during very dry periods. It also gives a good base for grass to grow and ‘knit’
the drainage lines in.
SECONDARY
DRAINS
Secondary drains enable surface water to reach the Primary Drains quicker.
They are spaced at 1M apart.
Secondary drains consist of
closely spaced gravel bands , approx. 20-25 mm wide and injected into the
playing surface 200-250mm deep by a vibrating channel opener. Instead of using
gravel we use Lytag.
Gravel Bander used for secondary drainage installation
LYTAG is a porous material that is far
superior to gravel in carrying water away from desired areas. It can drain up
to 10 times faster than 10mm gravel. It’s a recycled
material from made from the fly ash, a by-product of coal fired power stations.
It’s been used by Drainage contractors for over 30 years. Lytag on the surface
does not cause damage to mower blades and owing to its honeycomb design it holds
a small percentage of water which helps with stopping ‘tiger striping’ during
dry periods.
Also, as no soil is removed in laying secondary drainage surface
disturbance is minimal and play can resume almost immediately.
Watch how the gravel bander works to install secondary drainage
Using a 3ton Gravel bander to install the Secondary
Drainage
HOW CAN YOU HELP WITH YOUR COURSE!!
One of the most
labour-intensive jobs during the drainage installation will be the back filling
of the primary drainage trenches with the 75mm of sand/soil. This has to be
done by hand and shovel. It’s your Golf
course remember and if you would like to help us with this job it would be
greatly appreciated! Two members have already instigated that they would be
willing to help at times so if you would also like to get involve please
contact me on geoffabridgegolf@gmail.com or leave a message with Lol Green or the office.
WHAT DISRUPTION WILL THERE BE AND IN WHAT ORDER WILL DRAINAGE BE INSTALLED
You cannot make an omelette
without breaking some eggs! However, given this Winter we have all just endured
I hope to think you will all cope with a little inconvenience whilst we
endeavour to make your Golf Course so much more playable. There will be some
mess and occasionally we will have to close a whole while certain jobs are
carried out.
We have decided on
the following strategy, but this really does depend on several factors,
weather, the ability to get onto the surfaces with the machinery, staff levels
and pressure of Golf. We have also to maintain your Golf Course to the highest
standards the main Season.
March 2020 – November
2020. Holes 1- 7
March 2021 – November
2021. Holes 10,11,14,16,18
March 2022 – November
2022. Holes 12,13,14,17
March 2023 – November 2023. Holes 8,9, practice hole and parts of
the Driving Range
The above is definitely
subject to change. I will update you as much as I can.
I hope you are excited as we
are of completing this massive upgrade in your Course.
Hole 18th at Abridge Golf Club
WITH THE NEW FULL IRRIGATION SYSTEM, A FULL 18 HOLE BUGGY PATH, SOME OF THE BEST PRACTICE AND DRIVING RANGE FACILITIES IN THE COUNTY,THE WONDERFUL NEW CLUBHOUSE, THE AMAZING FOOD SERVING AT ‘THE LOUNGE’ AND JACK WINER OUR NEW HEAD PRO, ABRIDGE JUST GETS BETTER AND BETTER !
‘THE LOUNGE’
BE PART OF IT NOW!
ENJOY YOUR COURSE ENJOY YOUR CLUB……IT’S YOURS
REMEMBER!
As announced a few weeks ago the next stage of your Golf Course improvement plan is to invest heavily in Drainage .
The front 9 will remain closed again today, the back 9 is open but please take care it’s very wet and slippery in places. Buggy’s and Trolley’s must stay on the paths at all times. There maybe a couple of temps in use
Very sorry but we cannot beat this relentless wet weather. The Front 9 holes will be closed today as its just too wet underfoot to be safe to play. The back 9 holes are open but there will be some temporary greens in play . Buggy’s and ALL Trolleys must stick to the paths at all times. Please take care there are some very slippery areas on the course
Brendan blew in another 7 mm of rain which means there will be possibly a few temps in play today. Buggy’s and ALL wheeled Trolley’s must stick to the paths at all times.
After some rainfall last night, there may be some temporary greens in use. Please check at the pro shop for any updates. Holes 1-18 are in play with an artificial tee mat on holes 1 and 16. On the 8th, the grass tee will be in use but please play to the practice 8th green on rather than the main green. All buggies and trolleys are to stay on paths at all times. Please repair pitch marks and divots and enjoy your round.
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